The Powerpuff Girls (1998 TV series)
The Powerpuff Girls is a Emmy-award winning animated series with tremendous commercial fan success. The Powerpuff Girls originally aired on Cartoon Network as a pair of pilot shorts on the series What a Cartoon!, with the first premiering on February 20, 1995. With the success of these pilots, The Powerpuff Girls was picked up by Cartoon Network as a full series, which aired from November 18, 1998 to March 25, 2005, with reruns continuing to air on the network until January 19, 2009. The series was created by Craig McCracken, the creator of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, which started to air in 2004, the year before Cartoon Network aired The Powerpuff Girls' final aired episode. A reboot of the series officially premiered on April 4th, 2016, but it received negative reviews from fans of the original series. Plot The plot of the series follows three super powered little girls, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, who were accidentally created by Professor Utonium during a science experiment to create the perfect little girls. The girls are often summoned by the Mayor of Townsville to stop any threats the town faces. History and Production During Craig McCracken's first year in the character animation program of CalArts, he created a series of short cartoons based on a character called "No Neck Joe". In June 1991, he created a drawing of three girls on a small sheet of orange construction paper as a birthday card design for his brother. The following year he included the three girls as the main characters of his short film Whoopass Stew! The Whoopass Girls in: A Sticky Situation. Initially, McCracken wanted to animate four Whoopass Girls shorts, but only one came to be. McCracken's shorts were selected to be shown at Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation in 1994. While working on 2 Stupid Dogs in 1993, McCracken's Whoopass Girls short was picked up for a series by Cartoon Network. However, the name Whoopass had to be dropped for the channel to include it as part of its new What a Cartoon! animated shorts showcase mostly because the name Whoopass sounded inappropriate because it was pronounced whoop ass. The Whoopass Girls then became The Powerpuff Girls, and the "can of whoop ass" was renamed "Chemical X". McCracken's new short, entitled "The Powerpuff Girls in: Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins", aired as part the network's World Premiere Toon-In on February 20, 1995. Characters As depicted in the opening sequence of each episode, the Powerpuff Girls were created by Professor Utonium in an attempt "to create the perfect little girls" using a mixture of "sugar, spice, and everything nice". However, he accidentally spilled a mysterious substance called "Chemical X" into the mixture, creating, instead of the "perfect little girl", three girls (each possessing one of the above elements dominating her personality), and granting all three superpowers including flight, super strength, super speed, near invulnerability, x-ray vision, super senses, heat vision, energy projection, invisibility, and control over lightning. * Blossom (voiced by Cathy Cavadini) is the tactician and self-proclaimed leader of the Powerpuff Girls. Her personality ingredient is "everything nice", her signature color is pink, and she has long red hair with a red bow and a heart-shaped hairclip that can be seen from behind. She was named for having spoken freely and honestly to the Professor shortly after her creation as shown in the Powerpuff Girls Movie. She is often seen as the most level-headed, and composed member of the group and also strong and determined. Her unique power is freezing objects with her breath as seen in the episode "Ice Sore". * Bubbles (voiced by Tara Strong in the series and by Kath Soucie in the What a Cartoon! episodes) is the cute and sensitive one. Her personality ingredient is sugar, her signature color is blue, and she has short blonde hair in two pigtails. Bubbles is seen as kind and very sweet but she is also capable of extreme rage and can fight monsters just as well as her sisters can. Her best friend is a stuffed octopus doll she calls "Octi", and she also loves animals. She exhibits the ability to both understand multiple languages and communicate with various animals (squirrels, cats, monsters), and her unique power is emitting supersonic waves with her voice. * Buttercup (voiced by E. G. Daily) is the toughest of the three. Her personality ingredient is spice, her signature color is green, and she has short black hair in a flip. She is a tomboy who loves to get dirty, fights hard and plays rough; she does not plan and is all action. Buttercup is the only Powerpuff Girl without a unique super power (aside from being able to curl her tongue as shown in the episode "Nuthin' Special"). But often is shown being much stronger than her sisters. For example, she often takes on many monsters her self and defeats them all. McCracken originally wanted to name the character "Bud" until a friend suggested the name Buttercup. Appearances in other media Cameos and references in other Cartoon Network shows Before the series premiered, There were three dolls that represented Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup in the Dexter's Laboratory episode, Star Check Unconventional. A poster of The PowerPuff Girls appeared in the Courage the Cowardly Dog episode, The Ride of the Valkyrise. The billboard with the talking dog appeared in the second episode of Samurai Jack. The three girls made a cameo appearance in the Evil Con Carne episode, Ultimate Evil. Miss Bellum appeared in the Chowder episode, The Hot Date. Bubbles' head appeared in the episode, The Heist. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup's names were listed on a list in the Steven Universe and Uncle Grandpa crossover episode, Say Uncle. Buttercup and the Talking Dog appeared in the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode, Crossover Nexus. Buttercup appeared as one of Ben 10's transformations into different Cartoon Network characters while the talking dog appeared as one of the Cartoon Network heroes that were summoned and defeated by Strike. Home Media VHS volumes: * Bubblevicious (May 30th, 2000) * Monkey See, Doggie Go (May 30, 2000) * Birthday Bash (November 7th, 2000) * Dream Scheme (November 7th, 2000) * Twisted Sister (April 3rd, 2001) * Boogie Frights (April 3rd, 2001) * Meet the Beat-Alls (October 23, 2001) * The Powerpuff Girls Movie (November 5th, 2002) * 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas (October 7, 2003) DVD volumes: * Powerpuff Bluff (November 7th, 2000) * Down 'n' Dirty (November 7th, 2000) * The Mane Event (April 3rd, 2001) * The Powerpuff Girls Movie (November 5th, 2002) * 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas (October 7, 2003) * Meet the Beat-Alls (December 4th, 2001; re-release) * The Powerpuff Girls and Friends (May 6th, 2014) Season DVDS: * The Complete First Season (June 19th, 2007) * The Complete Series - 10th Anniversary Collection (January 20th, 2009) Trivia *The creator of this show would later create another series for Cartoon Network, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, whose characters make cameo appearances in The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!. Related series *Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi - A Webcomic Anime-styled crossover created by Bleedman (Vinson Ngo). *PPGZ or simple Demashitta! Powerpuff Girls Z - A Rebooted Anime version of The Powerpuff Girls set in Japan. The anime is co-produced by Cartoon Network Japan and Aniplex with a Twist of Magic and was animated and produced by Toei Animation, featuring character design by Miho Shimogasa (Cutie Honey Flash, Ultra Maniac). As production occurred in Japan, Craig McCracken, the original creator of The Powerpuff Girls, was not directly involved with the project. *The Powerpuff Girls - The reboot series, which started in 2016 and has received backlash from fans. References bg:The Powerpuff Girls da:Powerpuff Pigerne de:Powerpuff Girls es:Las Chicas Superpoderosas ja:パワーパフガールズ pl:Atomówki tr:Powerpuff Girls pl:Atomówki Category:Shows Category:Cartoon Network Series Category:Cartoon Network Original Cartoons Category:1990s shows Category:Cartoon Cartoons Category:2000s shows Category:Cancelled Series Category:Toonami Series Category:Hanna-Barbera Series Category:Boomerang Category:The Powerpuff Girls Category:Spin-Off Shows Category:Shows with wikis Category:Comedy Category:Tooncast Category:Ended series Category:2005 television series endings Category:1998 television series debuts Category:1998 Category:1999 Category:2000 Category:2001 Category:2002 Category:2003 Category:2004 Category:2005 Category:2006 Category:2007 Category:2008 Category:2009 Category:2010 Category:2011 Category:2012 Category:2013 Category:2014 Category:2015